by Bill Isaacs

I recently visited Las Vegas, Nevada. Coming from the east, you fly over Lake Mead. Lake Mead is in trouble. Its condition is very apparent from the air. There is a large and evident gap between where the water level used to be and where the water level is now. Surrounding the lake are layers of exposed rock that were previously under water. Ribbons of color snake around the perimeter, tracing the contours of the rock strata beneath, each layer a different hue of red, brown, and yellow: its hidden past uncovered.